


Is that a gift pouch or you're just happy to see me?

by sv962



Series: One does not simply say “I love you” [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Almost Kiss, Baking, Cockblocking Sixty, Gavin Reed Not Being an Asshole, M/M, Nines has trouble socializing, Nines is insecure, Nines sometimes has sexual fantasies, Pre-Relationship, Reed is Gay and Loud and Tina is Lesbian and Proud, Soft Upgraded Connor | RK900, Tina secretly wants to be a matchmaker for Gavin and Nines, yeah in this fic Tina and Nines bake cookies for Gavin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:06:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24489451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sv962/pseuds/sv962
Summary: “You’re not hiding a mass-destruction weapon back there, are you?”, Gavin raised his finger and just tilted his head, trying his best to spy on the present, “I get that you’ve got a nice ass, but keeping your hands glued there won’t make people think you don’t want them to look. So, back to my question, you planning on blowing the whole department up? Cause if that’s the plan, I want in”.Nines was a great admirer of the detective’s deductive skills but sometimes Reed was an utter idiot.
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Series: One does not simply say “I love you” [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2051340
Comments: 16
Kudos: 131





	Is that a gift pouch or you're just happy to see me?

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! This story can be read as a standalone or as a prequel (set at least two months before) to [It all started with a Coffee Stain](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23499346) and [Just like Humans do](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23926210)! Uhm, I should probably put them into a series but I'm still new on ao3 so I have yet to learn how to navigate the site and stuff xD
> 
> For those who follow me, I'm working on the sequel to Just like humans do, don't worry friends! I still want to thank all of you who read, commented and supported me! You can't even imagine how much your support and comments mean to me! If you want to support me, you can offer me [a black coffee on Ko–Fi](https://ko-fi.com/sv962)! (okay, maybe not black. Add a spoon of sugar, please. I'm not that hard-boiled).
> 
> I hope you're gonna enjoy this story! ~ヾ(＾∇＾)

## Is that a gift pouch or you're just happy to see me?

It wasn’t news that Tina and Gavin had a quite lively and over-the-top relationship and that more than often played each other pranks. Sometimes they overstepped boundaries but it was nothing that couldn’t be resolved with two or three days of silent treatment or some muttered excuse.

They had rituals and their own bizarre interactions and people usually didn’t care if they both made a commotion in the break room, since it was in their style to just mess things up whenever they had the opportunity: they were just two peas in a pod.

Tina kicking Gavin’s shins whenever he acted assholy-ish or punching his arm when he took his jokes too far weren’t new discussing material for the agents as much as Gavin’s manners, shouting or cursing weren’t the last word around.

All people knew was that she always wore her heart on a sleeve for him and that, despite that, the detective was still the rabid raccoon he was and kind of sat on a border, trusting her but not enough to let her know his health conditions most of the times.

So, obviously Tina couldn’t know _shit_ when she jokingly punched him in the exact spot Reed took a hit the week before, when he was kicked down a flight of stairs by a runaway suspect. Of course he couldn’t bribe the RK900 to shut about that, but he agreed on being medicated and taking daily painkillers and anti-inflammatory in return for the android to not leak the information to anyone in the precinct, nor in his report nor to Tina.

Well, he learned it the hard way.

Lies had short legs, after all.

Tina did indeed pester him for the whole day, apologizing and yet blaming him for not telling her about that. Of course he couldn’t: who in their sane mind would take pride in being kicked off the stairs?

Being shot was something a police officer could boast about, but there was nothing prideful about hurting himself in the line of work in such a shitty way.

In the end, he just kept on reassuring her that she didn’t actually need to excuse – _it was his fault, after all_. Nonetheless, his healing protracted for more than one week and he ended up assuming analgesics even twice a day, sitting on his couch and reluctantly medicating himself with sticky pomades.

The hematoma was gone after nine days, as the bruise slowly turned yellow.

Obviously this never prevented him from being his usual self, acting insufferable, irritable and infamously mocking Anderson.

“I can wipe my ass with his rank”, he once said, “He made it to Lieutenant when he was barely forty-four. But I can do better. All I gotta do is become Sergeant and then make it to Lieutenant before his age. This way, _I’ll_ set the record for being the youngest Lieutenant in Detroit history”.

Nines admired his spite.

Actually, partnering with Gavin was enough of a challenge for him.

He treasured their everyday life, made of habits and recurring events, affording him to save processing power for work-non-inherent preconstructions. Feeling grateful for finally lifting his guard, he could dedicate all the time he would to study and save every detail of Gavin’s face, the way he frowned when he relaxed or was bored and the smile as he napped during the launch break with his feet over the desk.

“’m heading for a coffee. Be right back”.

Gavin suddenly stood up from the desk, leaving his partner to compiling the paperwork he’d been delaying for the last two hours.

He was an ace on the field but _by rA9_ , he wouldn’t make it to Sergeant if he kept that attitude towards filing his reports. Yet, their shift would have been over in an hour and the whole day had passed rather slowly, between bureaucracy and archive dwelling, searching for similarities between their current case and an old one.

The android spied him with the corner of his eye as he walked to the break room, and returned to his work.

He well knew the detective’s times – _4,35 minutes to finish his coffee, approximately 40 seconds to stare at the digital magazine cover and, occasionally, brushing its contents, and a time span of 2-3 minutes spent in drowning complaints in his mug._

His esteems were subject to variations if in the break room perimeter just collided subjects Gavin was familiar with, such as Lieutenant Anderson, agents Miller and Person or agent Chen returning from patrol.

In that moment though, the break room was empty so he stuck to the possibility Gavin could be back even before the canonically 7-8 estimated minutes.

He was already sipping from his mug, so in deep thoughts that he probably hadn’t noticed Nines had been staring at him for a while, dedicating just the 32% of his processing to compiling his report, now totally rapt by the relaxed and amused expression on the detective’s face, as he stared at the cover of that week’s magazine issue.

He totally didn’t expect the hand on his shoulder but he managed to override all the alert on his systems before he could execute the self-defense protocol. His LED was still yellow, yet he quickly turned it blue when he met hazelnut eyes.

“Hi there, Nines”

Behind him, Tina was standing with a hand deep in her pocket and a troubled expression. She had been avoiding the detective all day long and RK900 could swear it was the first time she had dropped her bold attitude.

There was no denying though that she was agitated and fidgeting.

“Yes, agent Chen?”

“I’d really love to surprise Gavin. I wanted him to forgive me for that punch. I really didn’t want to and it must have hurt like hell”.

Nines tilted his head, searching for a meaning in that behavior.

“Detective Reed already forgave you”, he said trying to soothe her up, despite his facial expression and his lips and cheekbones couldn’t convey what Connor could communicate without efforts, “He knows it was an accident and that you couldn’t have known about his condition”.

Tina pursed her lips in a difficult smile and quickly gazed at the break-room, just to check that Gavin was still there.

“You see, that’s the point”, she shrugged her shoulders, leaning on the desk, “I don’t really care if he accepted my verbal apologies. I won’t consider the thing settled until he’ll accept the utmost form of forgiveness”.

“And that is..?”

“Cookies”, she grinned from ear to ear, “It’s gonna be a surprise. He won’t expect it so it’s a guaranteed success”.

This time, Nines strived to understand the underlining meaning behind that behavior. But what was outstanding the most, was that her objective was completely alike to his own primary directive, firstly set months ago: _make Gavin happy_.

“It’s really nice on your part”, he said after a moment of hesitation, computing the most consonant answer, “If your desire is to surprise him, I’ll totally avoid bringing this matter up and pretend we never had this conversation before. If he noticed, I’ll just say we talked about work-related matters”.

“Aw, come on, Nines!”, Tina energetically patted his shoulder and the android almost flinched under the realization of how familiar she was acting and how little he was used to any form of contact, be it human or android, “If I wanted to do it all by myself I wouldn’t have come here. Listen, _big boy_ , I just want you to help me”.

“Help you?”

Agent Chen wasn’t inept in culinary arts. She often brought baked sweets to work.

Why asking him? He wasn’t a domestic model, he tried once to cook something for Lieutenant Anderson and failed miserably, crashing not one but two eggs between his very fingers. He was the _least_ qualified person _and_ android to ask to.

Yet, it was the first time someone approached him without work-related pretexts. Nobody, before Tina, ever dared speak to him, even less touched his shoulder, too scared by his aspect and icy eyes. If she was offering him a pledge of friendship, he’d better accept it, especially considering the detective’s return was expected in less than two minutes.

“Thanks”, he said forcing a semblance of a feeble smile onto his cold lips, hoping that his desperate trying didn’t go unnoticed by the woman, “I’d really love to indulge into a recreational activity of culinary nature with you”.

Tina laughed it off, smiling in return: “Nines, no need for big words. It’s just cookies”.

When she noticed that Gavin was now leaving the break-room, making a bee-line for his desk, she winked at the android: “ _Message me later_ ”.

Nines silently nodded, deeply pleased by the fact that he was about to build a relationship with someone besides Gavin.

Technically, agent Chen was still part of the detective’s social net, but the sole fact that she had reached out for him without intermediaries was enough to lift his mood. His constantly blue LED rose few questionings from his partner, but he managed to elude his questions one by one, referring to the discussion with the agent as an information exchange about his health.

“You two are hiding something”, mumbled Gavin, narrowing his eyes as he deadly stared at the android, “You talked shit about me, no doubt”.

He couldn’t understand how could he think this.

Nines would have never insulted nor hurt or calumniate him, but there was a high probability that talking back to him could elicitate more questions and curiosity, so he just settled for his usual, cryptic grin, a half grimace as he tried his best to simulate a laugh, puffing air out of his parted lips.

When his shift was finally over, he walked Gavin to his car and only then did he start walking to his apartment.

It was an accommodation that Markus and New Jericho offered him and other homeless-androids, people who weren’t lucky enough to have families, old _owners_ who cared about them and couldn’t make a living just like Connor was doing at the moment. The place itself wasn’t bad, it was only two blocks away from the police district, 20 square feet of space – _just the essential space an android need for living_.

He was satisfied.

It could have been better of course. But he was content with what he had at the moment and with his first wage he even indulged Connor and bought a couch and a bed to rest in stasis. He kind of made him pressure Markus so he could pay a rent too, he was probably one of the first androids that could afford to do so.

There were 107 _boxes_ in the apartment complex, a great building deduced from an abandoned flat in 2022. Luckily enough, the structure was anti-seismic and all the androids, carpenters and not, did all they could to make the best out of that space.

As he stepped into his home, he slipped out of his shoes and placed them parallel to the wall’s skirting, near the entrance door. He meticulously draped his jacket over the back of the couch and sat on the cushions, hands resting on his tights. He acceded to the DPD archives and quickly extracted Tina’s phone number from her profile.

> > _RK900, 313-248-317-87: “Hello, Agent Chen. It’s Nines. I wanted to inform you I’ve just returned to my quarters and I’m waiting for instructions”_

He flattened his lips awkwardly.

The idea of cooking something for Gavin resounded so _alien_ to him.

He had been deviant since the moment he was activated yet he never showed clear signs of deviancy as Connor did. He was no different from a child who could speak but had selective mutism. Everyone just assumed he was a machine programmed to take orders, colleagues and strangers included. There was no way he could step in a bar or a store like other androids casually did without getting glares of frightening.

Even that TR400 called Luther, from the family Markus often spoke of, apparently did better than him despite being even broader and higher than RK900. The other androids were just better at everything.

Living, integrating, interacting, smiling.

What was the point in being advanced when he was alone?, what was the point in cooking?

He couldn’t perceive nor experience flavors and tastes the way humans did.

His analysis could surely reveal and pick on foods’ contents and properties such as fats, sugars or proteins, but he lacked taste buds to catalog them. Everything was just sterile and flavorless in his mouth, a bunch of data and molecules.

There certainly were chemical compounds he found _fascinating_ if compared to others.

Strawberry milkshakes, salivary samples belonging to Gavin that he _not so seldom_ stole from the edge of his mug or an unfinished cigarette each time the detective lowered his guard or just got distracted. But he never really _crafted_ or _baked_ something.

Tina’s answer popped up on his HUD.

> > _“Hey, Nines! Yeah, relax buddy. I’m leaving rn. If you’re free, we can go grocery shopping. There’s a market nearby. We’re going with my bike”._

Nines frowned, LED circling yellow.

> > “ _Agent Chen, I’m consternated to inform you that I don’t dispose of a helmet so I’m quite obliged to turn down your offer. Though, if you share the location of the store, I’ll be there as soon as possible”._
> 
> _> “Nines, relax. It’s not obligatory”_
> 
> _> “Michigan’s legislation decrees that the pilot and passenger of a motorcycle can legally renounce to wear the helmet only if they’re 21 years of age and have a medical insurance capable of covering up to 20,000 dollars of damage. Since I don’t meet these requirements, it’s mandatory that I decline your invite”._
> 
> _> “You’re an android, big boy. This law only applies to humans ;)”_
> 
> He puffed.

Alright, he had no doubts regarding why Gavin appreciated her company. She was ironic and definitely married Gavin’s rebel and anti-conformists ideals. Honestly, he didn’t really want to know how _often_ they broke the law.

> > _“Alright. I’ll meet you at the precinct then. I’ll be there in five minutes”._

Tina was waiting for him on the steps, wearing a leather jacket pitched black, jeggings and a pair of Chelsea boots. She had her hair done in a bun and she had the helmet under her arm.

“Always dressing uptight, uh?”, she said cracking a smile.

Only then did Nines notice he was wearing his _usual_ Cyberlife jacket. He never thought about his wardrobe and nobody made him notice his aspect before then, maybe because they thought it was his work uniform, or maybe because they were too scared to face him ( _most likely_ ).

He should have known better though.

Even Connor had a house _uniform_ and Sixty often referred to take off his jacket once back to his apartment because he couldn’t bear the feeling of the inner lining of the fabric on his shirt. Something about feeling restrained and itchy. As much as an android could feel... itch?

Well... Connor did say once that deviancy makes androids develop quirks. Maybe that was one of them. Too bad he wasn’t lucky enough to feel something different from the usual sense of inadequacy.

Tina patted his back.

“Don’t worry. Here”, she offered him the helmet, “Wear it. We’re going for a ride”.

“But–”, a glitch cracked his voice, but he muted his voice box before Tina could point that weird noise to him, “Please, don’t be irrational. Motorcycles are even more dangerous than manual-operated cars and expose the entire human body to potential abrasions. They may lose balance, just this year we registered 32,478 incidents–”.

“Ahhh!, okay!, okay, you win! I’m wearing it! Geez...”, Tina snorted and mounted on her bike, gesturing the android to sit behind her, “Somehow, I understand Gavin. You really act like a nanny-bot”.

“Well, it’s the most logical consequence to setting your primary directive to assure Gavin’s wellbeing”.

Tina laughed heartily as she started the engine.

“You gotta be crazy, Nines. You’ve got so many possibilities ahead of you. You could, I dunno, solve cases in your spare time, find people of your kind instead of putting up with bigoted humans all the time. Join Markus’ cause and help him out just like Connor does besides his work instead of rotting in the department”.

“Don’t you like the police district?”, Nines tightened his hold around the grab handles, sitting uncomfortably on the bike given his height and frame, yet he kind of appreciated the wind hitting his face.

He really was oversized for that vehicle but at the moment, the idea of riding a wild mean of transport like that was captivating at most.

He... probably was the most unfitting person to ride a bike, but he found appealing the sense of freedom and wildness it evoked him. If he had one of his own and learned how to _operate_ it, he could take Gavin for a ride.

And maybe, hope that Gavin could give him a ride in exchange.

He startled, blushing furiously, his imaginary suddenly flooded by Gavin’s sitting right behind him, sliding his hands up to his jacket and stroking his broad torso, feeling every inch of his skin under the layer of black cotton fabric. Maybe holding his hips instead of the grab handles or sliding his hands lower, at his waist and then just loosening the belt a little, just–

“Hey, you okay, big boy?”, Tina lowered the speed, now decelerating, “I heard a whine. If you’re scared of going fast, you could have said sooner”.

Nines sucked in a breath.

Oh. He did whine.

This. This was disgraceful. He was not only absorbing weird speech patterns from Lieutenant Anderson and Connor, but also indulging _way too much_ on these thoughts recently.

“I’m...”, he quickly evaluated his options, and opted for lying, “I’m quite scared actually. I’m sorry if I didn’t say anything”.

He grabbed the handles and looked up to the sky, the firmament mixing with the red and yellow lights emerging from the city. Every day of his life, he was grateful for being able to see the world from the outside, instead of standing alone in the room of the Cyberlife Tower.

“Anyway, I’m sorry for interrupting you. You, were talking about the department”

“Well, it could have been better. I don’t want you to trust the wrong people. But”, she stalled, puffing in her helmet, “I won’t lie: Gavin stepped on lots of people’s toes to get where he is. His conduct isn’t what you’d expect from an officer at first glance and yet he always managed to keep his record pristine. He’s good at what he does and don’t get me wrong, Miller is amazing, your brother is adorable and the other one is, huh, an asshole but the kind of tolerable one. We all looked up to Hank, back in the day and Allen is, well, I don’t have an opinion on him yet”.

“He would have killed Connor back in August, if he had the possibility”, Nines vaguely remember the discussion with his brother a few weeks back, “I’m glad he changed his opinion about him since he met Sixty but, well... if he lays a finger on him, I can assure you he’ll walk with crutches for _at least_ a month”.

Tina loudly laughed, genuinely amused: “Aw, it’s so cute when you act protective towards Connor”.

“I wasn’t talking about Connor”, Nines curiously raised his brows, “I indeed love him very much and I wouldn’t be here without him nor Lieutenant Anderson or Markus. But despite our _ups and downs?_ , I still like Sixty very much and he gives me the kind of bad advice that Connor won’t give me. It helps me evaluate better the moral situations I fail to understand or feelings I have trouble navigating”.

He fidgeted, shrugging his shoulders at Tina’s silent hum.

“Since I was activated, I never had anything mine besides this jacket. Connor and Sixty are the only ones I feel deeply linked to. They’re my predecessors, _my_ brothers. We share a series, a serial that changes by nothing but two numbers, just like twin with genetic sequences. Cyberlife sure took humanity from me, they just looked at me like some twisted experiment to create the ultimate weapon, stirred by fear and yet incapable of communicating it to other people. Yet... they gave me two brothers who recognize me as _their_ as much as I call them _mine_. We... we are a family. Unconventional, but still...”.

He frowned as Tina kept silent.

“Well, I’ve always thought you were as soft as a plushie deep in your heart”

“I’m not, agent Chen. My thirium pump is nothing but soft”.

“Well, looks like someone has to check the idiom dictionary”

“Oh”, he stuttered.

Of course he wouldn’t know idioms.

When they reached the grocery store, Tina parked her bike in the red zone, ignoring the android’s reprimand, and prompted him to follow her.

She extracted a crumpled up list from her pocket, the ingredients noted on a post-it, and walked through the shop isles, dropping everything she needed in the shopping basket.

People were _staring_ him and Nines awfully strived to understand if it were due to his formal attire or because of his face. He really wished he had dressed more _casual_.

As they walked between the isles, RK900 took in as much information as he could. It was the first time he ever ventured in a shop, the first time he touched an orange instead of seeing it from his browser, the first he weighted a bag of flour, the first he took on his hands boxes that didn’t contain for once evidence or office documents.

“Human activities are really enjoyable”, he held the shopping basket on his right hand, following the agent.

Tina softly grinned: “First time in a grocery store?”.

He nodded: “I can’t wait to replicate the experience with Gavin”.

His LED turned yellow as he pre-constructed being in that same isle with the detective muttering and complaining about the increased price of egg-yolks and standing in a row for half an hour just to decide which coffee to buy, if he should try something new or stick to the usual.

When the basket was well full, Tina paid, quickly refusing the android’s proposition to cover the costs and put the bag in the top box.

Her apartment was three miles away from the store but she ran enough to cover the distance in less than three minutes – _Nines probably though she had already forgotten about his presumed fear for high speed_.

She parked on the driveway and fished for the keys in her front pockets.

When the door opened, she dropped the bags onto the kitchen counter.

“Well, it’s nice to be home!”, she gestured at the sofa, seeing Nines stumbling in the middle of the living room, uncertain on what to do, “Damn, we could have bought something for you. It’s embarrassing, now that I think about it! I don’t have nothing to drink to offer you!”.

The android grinned, bringing his hands behind his back, “Pretend I have accepted”.

He wandered in the room, carefully avoiding stepping on the almost pristine carpet. Judging by the detectable footsteps, Tina always walked on it barefoot or with socks on at least. He wouldn’t dirt it with his shoes.

On the sofa sat a woolen blanket and on a shelf, in plain view, there was a framed photograph of a young Tina Chen and a rebel Gavin Reed the day they passed the certification exam of the _Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards._

Gavin was already sporting his nose scar and his hair were long down to his shoulders. He looked familiar, though he couldn’t understand why. His face was livid and drenching with sweat, his eyes watering yet he didn’t look about to burst into tears of joy nor sadness.

A... curious photo.

“Okay, I’m all set!”.

Tina entered the living room just to catch Nines staring at the picture.

“Ah, the old glories of the police academy”, she said, leaning on the doorframe, “We had such a good time back then”.

“He doesn’t look happy though”.

Tina laughed at his admission.

“Oh, well. That day we had to take a physical fitness test.

Gavin sprained his ankle two weeks before and couldn’t train as he should have for the exam. He hid his limping just like he did now with his bruising and tricked everyone into believing he was doing _fucking peachy._

He even refused to take painkillers to avoid problems with _doping._

One week prior the exam he vanished and people were just saying he chickened out.

He wasn’t at the dorm so I just assumed he was at his brother’s place, since he told me once he did have one.

But then, that morning he shows up and looks like he’s about to punch a puppy in the face. And boy, trust me. That day he ran like he never did.

I never saw him run like that ever again.

He had the best record out of one fucking hundred of candidates. When they told him he was in and that they were impressed by his performance, he ran to me to take a picture and he was red as a fucking ladybug.

His ankle hurt so bad that he cried after the photo flash.

Everyone was there thinking the asshole got overly emotional.

And there he was instead, suffering like a bastard”.

She snickered.

“He fainted out of pain. Took him three damn months to recover. Always too proud to show his pain”, Tina met the android’s eyes, smiling as he stared at the photo to pick on every possible detail, “I will concede that he went through a lotta shit. He’s got luggage but I guess you presumed as much.

Nobody showed up at his graduation. No parents, neither his brother.

Just a lone wolf. I’m glad that he finally found someone who cares enough to watch over him”.

“He’s in good hands”, he tilted the corner of his lips in a semblance of a smile, “I’d do everything in my power to make him live a second more”.

Tina grinned from ear to ear, “Oh yeah?”, she crossed her arms, now searching eye contact with the android, “Am I missing something? You have a crush on your partner?”.

Nines blushed.

“I... may harbor romantic feelings towards him”, he hesitantly said, “But there’s nothing to hope for me here. Gavin sure went through a lot of changes during our partnership but I strongly doubt he’d believe me or accept my feelings. He’d think I’m mocking him and I’m not the exact representation of what he’d want from someone. I cannot grant him lots of things another human could give him easily”.

Tina frowned: “Well... that’s alright. It’s no use forcing things. Just don’t give up on him just because you’re scared of screwing things up or because you think he has ‘ _needs you can’t meet_ ’. People make mistakes but nothing is beyond recovery at the first try. Also, he may not look like the type, but he cares about you and he just wants to be cared in return”.

“Can we focus on the cookies for now?”, he eluded the topic, now drifting his gaze to the kitchen, “I’d be elated to know he enjoyed the surprise”.

“No worries, big boy. He’s gonna love it”, Tina quickly prompted him to the coat rack, “Take off your jacket. You wouldn’t dirt it with flour and short-crust pastry. I’ll give you an apron, but it’d be better if you roll up your sleeves a little”.

The apron was white and red, smalls squared patterned.

Not that he was feeling embarrassed or what, he was amused and yet intrigued from the idea of baking something. Maybe with the help of a much more experienced person he could avoid making a total disaster out of the kitchen.

Tina giggled and eventually, she convinced him to have his picture taken. No wonder she forwarded it to Connor and agent Miller.

“My, you really are a sex-symbol, Nines”

He extremely doubted that considering he totally lacked genitals, but he kept that particular to himself and forced his best smile.

“I have no intention in changing my career”, Tina was now answering to Miller with a smile as he spoke, “I’d feel uncomfortable at least to the mere thought of making it to the third page of a journal or magazine like happened to Connor, let alone being exposed naked like Cyberlife built me”.

“Hmm, not your cup of tea, huh?”, she snickered.

“Well, I don’t see what’s tea to do with that, but–“, he searched the term and pursed his lips when he looked up the definition, “Oh. Uhm, no. Definitely not”.

She took a mixing bowl and put it on a kitchen scale and carefully took out the ingredients one by one.

Nines just waited for her instructions: he melted the butter in a small saucepan, preheated the oven to 356° F, carefully cut the chocolate and the coating as Tina just kneaded the dough.

He spied the way her hands just energetically worked on the ingredients, nails now dirtied with egg yolks, flour, yeast and butter and he was almost surprised when he realized the dough was getting warmer with each stroke and mixing of her hands.

“Gavin doesn’t care about bells and whistles. Every time I brought him these cookies, he ate them during his breaks. He just likes them”.

Nines made a mental note of everything, from the ingredients necessary for the recipe to the time needed for the dough to finally look consistent enough.

Tina cut half of it and flattened it with a firm punch then proceeded on taking out from the kitchen drawer a set of cookie cutters.

“Choose your favorite and go for it!”, she took a big tray and rolled some baking paper over it, “When you’re done, just put the cookies here. Not too close though. You wouldn’t want them to merge when the leaven in the oven”.

He nodded and looked at the cutters.

So many possibilities.

Stars, hearts, Christmas trees, hats, animals.

Agent Chen must have really loved baking sweets and cookies, considering the variety of her collection. He eventually opted for a duck-shaped one and pressed the cutter over the pastry, replying the agent’s actions.

Amazingly enough, after one or two tries, he found almost easy to do the task. Well, he was a _deep-learning_ AI after all. A thinking person, but also an artificial intelligence. He just didn’t expect to learn this fast.

With more than one pound of dough, they filled three trays with cookies and the helping hand Nines led afforded them to finish the work in half the time it’d usually require. As they waited for the cookies to bake and get cold enough to coat them with icing, Tina just sat at the table, periodically checking the oven and talking about their times back at the police academy as Nines watched and listened to her with rapt eyes, so deep in thoughts, like he’d been trying to reconstruct everything that happened just by listening to her sole words.

“You know, I remember the only time I met someone from his life, it was maybe ten years ago or something. I was checking on him. Apparently he didn’t show up that morning and, well, he’s a workaholic so Fowler just wanted me to make sure everything was okay. He was the only one who always saw through Gavin, along with Hank”.

She rested her chin on the palm, now faintly smiling.

“So I’m in the middle of a discussion with that rabid raccoon and the bell rings. And he just straightforwardly opens the door and, I swear to God, there’s this stunning chick waiting there and she’s wearing the cutest blue parka I’ve ever seen, golden hair and the faux white fur around the hood covering her head.

And she’s there, holding a bag and just saying _Gavin you forgot your cookies_ and the moment she realizes I’m there she turns into the most panicked woman I’ve ever seen in my life.

And, Nines I won’t lie, I don’t know who that chick was, but my girlfriend would kill me if I told you I still think about her”.

Nines’ LED spun red: “Gavin... had a girlfriend?”.

“Girlfriend? Oh no, she definitely wasn’t a girlfriend. He’s always been gay”, she laughed it off, “He told me she was his aunt. Or something”.

“Or something?”

“Yep. He totally added _or something_ and was red in face. So, he probably was right. And you know. I tried to ask him about her but he refused to talk about _his aunt_ and said that there was no purpose on hitting on her cause she already got her hands full with nannying his brother. She didn’t look that old to me but, hey, maybe in the meantime he had another brother. Who knows”, she shrugged her shoulders, now drawing circles with her index over the pristine counter, “Well, he never talked about her and I didn’t ask. It’s just that sometimes I get this feeling that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You get what I mean, right?”.

Nines frowned.

“Well, it was back then that I did learn about his love for cookies. Man, they were perfect. I don’t know if that girl owned a bakery or something, but those tiny hands really knew how to get the work done”, Tina sighed, now looking at the clock, “Love really is weird, you know Nines? Your relationship doesn’t work out and suddenly all you can do is think about some person you met once and you wasn’t even introduced to”.

“This is why you’re spurring me to try despite everything? Because it’s better to make a mistake than holding back?”

“I just don’t want you to think you don’t deserve him or you’re not enough, okay?”.

Nines nodded.

The clock just hit 8 p.m.

Tina headed to the storeroom and returned after a while with a rectangular tin box decorated with a collage of pictures of sweets, muffins and pies. She cleaned it accurately and covered the base with a layer of towel rolls.

“Here we’re putting some cookies. Tomorrow, before heading to the station, come here. I’ll give you a jar filled with your cookies. Maybe I’ll put them in a gift pouch and use a ribbon. Gavin will be head over heels for this”.

Nines averted his gaze, cheeks blushing blue and thanked the agent as she draped his coat around his shoulders and handed him the helmet: “Here, now’s your turn. I’m giving you a lift. It’s not really the safest of the times to walk alone when it’s dark. Especially if you’re an android”.

Nines refused to make blatant how little he had to fear, considering his designation, but he better knew he couldn’t argue with her. Nor he wanted to give up on the offer of another ride.

When he got home, he felt wonderful.

He felt happy and had the impression he could finally lay on the bed and enjoy the softness of the pillow.

In the dim light of the room, with a book Hank once lent him on the nightstand, he felt less alone and even antsy at the thought of the next morning. He thought whether or not reading the story for the 27th time, Asimov’s “Caves of Steel”.

He opened his eyes when Connor’s and Sixty’s messages popped up on his HUD, along with the picture Tina took of him before.

> _> Connor: “So, you’re finally confident enough to cook. Well, we may not know 35,000 recepies like the AX400 models, but it’s still worth the try. Anyway, you look good in that apron”_
> 
> _> Sixty: “Yeah. Nice apron, playboy”._

He initially failed to understand what his brothers were referring to, but as he scanned the photo, he realized that he was sporting a surprised expression on his face, lips parted and teeth shown, bare forearms dirtied with flour. The apron said: “ _I cook as good as I look_ ”.

> _> “I... I’m glad you two think I’m aesthetically pleasing”_
> 
> _> “Oh, you just worry over nothing. Beauty is a very subjective matter. And detective Reed is always showing interesting reactions when interacts with you. I suggest you monitor them when you give him the cookies tomorrow”._
> 
> _> “Reactions?”_, he asked.
> 
> > _“Hard-ons, boners, how would you call ‘em. Damn, Nines you really suck at human anatomy”_ , Sixty just shook his head.
> 
> _> “But won’t it be weird if I give them to him after agent Chen?”_
> 
> _> “Gee, just pick a different moment. The end of your shift, maybe?”_

Despite Sixty’s grumpiness, he always managed to give him good enough advice.

He concluded the conversation few minutes later.

Just enough chitchat to share routine information with Connor about the Lieutenant’s health condition, updates on his low-fat intake diet and some _live_ footage of Sumo playing with a tennis ball. He could feel Sixty rolling his eyes as he was forced to watch the same videos over the group chat.

Talking to them was refreshing and when came midnight, he just snuggled under the blanket and entered stasis.

He called a taxi at 06:35 and knocked on Tina’s door precisely 12 minutes later.

She greeted him still in her pajamas, but she didn’t look surprised about his early visit. Hair in a ponytail and a pink sweater with patterns of gray kittens all over the cloth, she offered him a decorated pouch bag, closed with a cyan ribbon and a blank rectangular note.

“Here”, Tina loosened the ribbon and slid the paper over the table, “Write your name and add something of your own, if you want”.

“What should I be writing down?”, he asked dumbfounded.

“Well, usually you’d go for congratulations for something or niceties of sorts”, Tina shrugged her shoulders, filling a bowl of milk as she spoke, “But we’re talking about Gavin. I wrote: _Sorry, asshole. Next time Imma aim lower!_ , and drew a dick on it, for the sake of old times. But you can write whatever you feel like”.

Nines took a pen and stared at the blank piece of paper as he thought of what to write.

Agent Chen was no Miss Courtesy, but she had an heart of gold and looked like the perfect match for Gavin.

_Gay and loud, lesbian and proud._

There were so many things he wished he was able to tell Gavin and he could have done if he were an android. A little, fast interface of few seconds would have been all it took to tell the detective how much he cherished him, how much he cared for him, all the things his words nor his facial expressions couldn’t convey.

The pen was heavy between his fingers but the note was still blank.

All he could hear was Tina’s munching on her cereals, the spoon hitting the edge of the ceramic bowl and her humming as she undoubtedly stared at him, as if she was trying to resolve the enigma of the most cryptal android out there.

Something must have come to his mind though, because his LED spun yellow and it was a matter of seconds before the lines were filled at inhumanly speed and the note covered.

Tina laughed it off: “Don’t worry, big boy. I wasn’t peeking, just deep in thought”.

He was genuinely protective towards his feelings.

Tina offered to accompany him to work, but Nines once again declined.

So he just came to the police station at 7:30, in time to check and tidy his desk before anyone else could arrive. He hid the cookies in the first drawer and patiently waited for Gavin’s arrival.

“Hi there, tin can”

Gavin was gradually warming up to him and Nines was really grateful for the fact that despite every time he entered the bullpen he had his head down, usually covered by the hood, lately his green eyes were facing the office, his chin was held higher and never missed an opportunity to eye his partner and smile, spouting different greetings or observations, from “Earth to Toaster!, you still glitchin’ or something?” to the smooth way he addressed him whenever they were alone, tentative and avoiding stares as Gavin often sipped on his coffee and just called him by his nickname – _now, chosen name_.

He anxiously waited for the moment Tina entered the office and he registered all the detective’s reactions.

She greeted the both of them but didn’t talk too much to the android. Nobody would want Reed to suspect he was a part of this too.

Gavin was just enthusiastic and flustered.

He scratched his nape as he always did and just muttered that she didn’t have to go that far for him, hands trembling out of emotion for that unexpected gift, throwing killing stares to whoever was eyeing him or about to speak a word about his little moment of joy and happiness.

He laughed as he read the note and their bartering once again begun, only interrupted by the arrival of Miller and his and Tina heading for their patrolling shift.

The rest of the morning, they both sat at their desks and Nines was almost amazed by the dedicate working of the detective, never once complaining and seldom nibbling on the cookies.

An hour had passed and he had already eaten them all.

“Damn... they never last long”.

Nines puffed and could swear the detective saw his eyes narrowing in a smile.

Gavin was a yarn of emotions: embarrassment, happiness, joy, shyness and diffused hostility towards his colleagues. He was territorial, defended everything belonged to him just like a cat marked and protected his own territory with claws and fangs, hissing and growling, tail puffing up before anyone could even attempt a step towards him.

He ought to study a strategy.

The launch break seemed to never come by.

Waiting for the end of the day seemed impossible when he had an internal watch that practically scanned each passing minute, second and millisecond. He tried his best to keep himself occupied: updating recent cases, checking Gavin’s reports for grammatical or syntactic errors –the day just seemed to _never end_.

He could understand why humans hated boredom.

He... kind of disliked that too.

“Heading out”

Gavin walked to the exit before three, but this time Nines followed him.

“I’m coming with you”

“What, work is taking a toll on your processors?”

“I... need fresh air”

Gavin looked convinced enough.

Whether the detective decided on genuinely believing him or just agreed on drinking the few lies the android was capable of making up, he wouldn’t be able to tell, but it was irrelevant now was that they were both sitting on the bench out of the station, near a mowed lawn and under the shade of an oak.

Gavin was sipping on his coffee, breath condensing in the air, sitting disheveled as usual.

Nines usually sat uptight, but this time he was doing his best to just hide the present, keeping the pouch behind his back, searching for the best moment to give him his gift.

“You’re not hiding a mass-destruction weapon back there, are you?”, Gavin raised his finger and, meeting the surprised and guilty eyes of the android, he just tilted his head, trying his best to spy on the present, “I get that you’ve got a nice ass, but keeping your hands glued there won’t make people think you don’t want them to look. So, back to my question, you planning on blowing the whole department up? Cause if that’s the plan, I want in”.

He was a great admirer of the detective’s deductive skills but sometimes Reed was an utter idiot.

“Each time I have to do something, I try to compute all the variables. I want to be 100% sure that my preconstructions won’t turn out fallacious. That’s why I’m always collecting data and over-thinking every situation. I want to be sure I won’t fail–”

“Yeah, I’m kind of updated on your techno-babble”, Gavin cut him off, “Seriously though, the phck you hiding?”.

He frowned and showed the gift pouch with the cyan ribbon, cheeks blue and lips flattened out of fear of rejection: “I... made something for you. I thought you’d like it”.

“’s a prank?”, Gavin raised a brow, but as he met the uncertain stare of the android, almost wounded by his words, he regretted his words and proceeded on holding the pouch on his hands and loosening the blue ribbon. As he opened it, silence just stretched between them.

Nines’ cookies were different from Tina’s: they were duck-shaped and their frosting was as blue as his cheeks. They must’ve been hidden somewhere cold the entire day because they were still crunchy and the icing didn’t stuck to his finger.

The RK900 just trailed with his pupils all of Gavin’s movements, the shivering fingers as he undid the ribbon, the trembling as he opened the pouch, the little sweating coming from his forehead and the perspiring hormones – _oxytocin, endorphins, serotonin._

He munched on them and he sounded absolutely content.

“Love them”, he cleaned his teeth with his tongue, licking the frosting over his lips, “Thanks”.

Nines ignored the fact that he was totally dying over that little movement, that tongue that he so wished to have in his mouth in that moment. He averted his gaze and awkwardly pointed at the note, prompting Gavin to read it.

“ _To the best partner in the world”_ , he recited, reading the words and now blushing under his scrutiny, “ _You’re really important to me. Thanks for existing, Gavin. –Nines_ ”.

The exchanged a look.

“I’m... not good with words”, Nines just said in his defense, “But I hope you believe me when I say you really do mean a lot to me”.

“Hey, tin can”, Gavin looked at his tiredly, laying the pouch next to him, “Maybe we cannot interface but this doesn’t mean we need to talk everything out to understand each other. People have lots of reasons for not being able to communicate or not wanting to: aphasia, selective mutism, nonverbal autistic people. Hey, I respect that. What counts is caring for each other. Words aren’t always necessary”.

Nines looked at him, tilting his head.

“That... was thoughtful, Gavin”.

“Well, what? Thought I was a beast? I believed we were over that phase”

“And what phase are we in, right now?”.

Gavin munched on a cookie and ruffled his hair with the free hand, “The phase where you let me eat my cookies in peace and restrain from making any weird comments”.

Nines relaxed on the bench, his back now laying a little winded up against the wood.

“You..”, he averted his gaze, now starting at the oak leaves over his head, gently brushed by the wind, “You did say I have a nice ass”.

He could hear the detective almost choking on his cookies.

“Y-Yeah, don’t boast now. I slipped a little. You looked like a kicked puppy. A little praise never killed anyone, though I should have, huh, said something more remarkable like, dunno, your being good-hearted and way too uncertain of stuff, or, well, phck...”, scratching his nape, he looked at the now empty coffee cup and threw it in the near trash can, “You.. you just matter to me too, okay? ‘s been way too long since someone had my back and it feels weird but the kind of good weird. So, I’m just glad that I’ve got you. Though saying that I’m the best partner maybe it's a hyperbole. I’m the only one you ever had so... you’d have to meet other people to make your judgments. Don’t set the bar so low”.

Nines tilted his head: “I’m not setting the bar low. We get along, right? And you give me advice, you look out for me, you...”. His lips were now pursed in a frown. “I don’t want anyone else, Gavin”.

“Yeah, yeah. Soon you’re gonna realize the mistake you’ve made and you’re gonna go and ask the department for a transfer ‘cause your partner is the most insufferable dick in this world”

“I kind of found that out before meeting you, yet I’m still here...”

“Yeah, you RKs all have a thing for dysfunctional living beings. Blame it on phcking Kamski...”

“What’s Kamski to do with this?”, Nines frowned meeting the now averting eyes of the detective. Gavin seemed more aware now and just shrugged his shoulders: “Well he worked on your program, right? I, huh, I read it somewhere. Don’t give me that look, I may have read something about androids, I’m no ignorant!”.

He ruffled his hair, grinning from ear to ear: “If you and Tina happen to make more of these, just tell me. I, huh, I loved the surprise”.

Nines blushed, his lips cracking into a happy grin: “Of course”.

He adjusted his disheveled hair, feeling the intense stare of Gavin into his own eyes, but as was about to speak, he heard a window being slammed from the floor above and Sixty’s clear voice now shouting “GAAAAAAY!”, cupping his hands. A hand suddenly grabbed the android by the hem of his jacket, forcing him inside, and by the cold tone, there was a high possibility that it was just Captain Allen being fed up with the android – _per usual_.

“That’s brothers for you”, Gavin stood up from the bench, throwing a hand in the pocket and holding the pouch with the remaining cookies in the other, “Let’s just head inside and, huh”.

“Yeah. Pretend we never heard that”, Nines averted his gaze.

It wasn’t time yet.

But he would hang onto Tina’s words a little more.

Just to believe that someday, maybe, he would muster enough courage to think he’d be enough for him.

Enough to turn his preconstructions into reality.

> SET MISSION PARAMETER

> **[ROMANCE GAVIN]**

> CONFIRM?

.

.

.

**_> YES_ **

**^^ SOFTWARE INSTABILITY ^^**

**Author's Note:**

> SIXTY IS THAT SEAL THAT SCREAMS GAY. YOU KNOW HE IS.


End file.
